You need to get an older distributor. For some odd reason I think that the shaft needs to be shorter for an older motor.

 

Aaron, could you be more specific? What year?

 

No I can't. It is just a hunch I have since the motor and distributor are so far apart year wise. The dist is from a "5.0" and the motor is a "302". Are you running EFI?

 

Yeah, EFI.

Anyone else got an idea about this?

 

ttt

 

CobraTom
I have a couple of old distributors in the garage from late sixties 302 engines. I measured the distance from the bottom of the flange (where it sits on the block) to the end tip of the shaft and it is 5". From the bottom of the flange (where it sits on the block) to the bottom of the cam drive gear it is 4". From the bottom of the gear to the end of the shaft it is 1". Hope this helps.
JimmyZ

 

check your shaft and make sure its in the pump all the way. you may even want to try priming it with a drill. then reinstall the dist......mike

 

Are you running a HD oil pump drive shaft? If so the broach in the may not be deep enough to allow the distributor to seat.

 

Obviously, the distributor is going down over the pump drive shaft, but is bottoming out on the retainer clip on the shaft. So, what do I do? Cut a little off the distributor shaft or what?

I thought the retaining clip can slide up and down the oil pump shaft. Atleast that's what mine is like on an older engine. Dumb question but, you have the clip on the bottom side of the hole it comes through on block right?

 

Jimmyz's measurements:

bottom of the flange (where it sits on the block) to the bottom of the cam drive gear it is 4".

Mine measures 4.04" on the EFI distributor. Close enough.

bottom of the gear to the end of the shaft it is 1"

Mine measures 1.52". There's the difference. The EFI driveshaft is longer by about 1/2"

The retaining clip is on the bottom side of the hole. I don't think that's the issue. The length of the distributor is.

After all these measurements (Thanks Jimmyz!) the solution is to get a shorter distributor or modify the one I've got. Is there any reason why I can't modify the one I've got? Does anyne know someone who has tried to do that?

If that can't be done, is there an EFI distributor that all the harness electronics will plug into that is shorter by 1/2" that will work?

 

CobraTom
I looked at the shafts on my distributors and they are only hollow for 5/8". I know that the oil pump drive shaft fits up in there almost all the way. If you cut your distributor, will the oil pump drive shaft fit in there deeply enough to cause no problems?
JimmyZ

 

Hmmmmm, mine are hollow for 1.3". I'm beginning to believe that it could be modified. If no one comes forward with a definitive answer, I may take it to a local Ford dealer. They'll probably stand around scratching their collective....., well, I hope someone here knows the answer.

 

CobraTom
Follow on measurement. I also have the shaft from the oil pump to the distributor from 1968. That measures 7 3/8".
JimmyZ

 

No problem with that distributor, as long as you put it in the engine it was designed for. Sorry could not help saying that, surprized no one else caught it. That distributor is out of a 351 not a 302. The longer shaft is to reach down the longer deck height.
bob the deer hunter

 

Thanks 65ac. That may be the problem. I'll take it to the local Ford place Monday. You wouldn't be able to ID it with numbers would you?

On the side of the plug:

E3EF-12A297-A1A

On the body:

E4ZE-12131-AA

 

There is no way the distributor shaft should bottom on the clip on the oil pump drive shaft. The clip on the drive shaft is there to stop the drive shaft from pulling out and falling into the oil pan when you remove the distributor. The shaft is installed into the oil pump before the pump is installed. The shaft IS NOT installed down into the oil pump after it is installed. The distributor shaft should not bottom on anything. The distributor drive gear should rest against the circular "bearing" surface where the oil pump shaft comes through. There should be sufficient end play in the distributor shaft to keep it from binding against this "bearing" surface.

 

I beg to differ with you, Uraeus. If you'll notice in my original post at the top, the distributor shaft is longer than the distance from the flange to the clip, which means that it will bottom out on this clip.

Additionally, the distributor drive gear does not rest against the circular bearing surface where the oil pump shaft comes through. It simply meshes with the gear on the cam and it's position is held in place by the flange on the distributor when it mates against the block. I do agree with you about the purpose of the clip and the order of assembly.

The bottom line is, the distributor I have is too long, by about .04" or so. There should be some tollerance for expansion, so I assume that 1/16" or .0625" is the difference.

A previous response may be right, the distributor may be for a 351.

 

CobraTom,

Without going into a long dissertation. Its is common on EFI motors to have this issue. Its a stack tolerance issue. Its particularly bad when using an MSD dist. My personal engine with MSD billit,ARP pump drive,Mildon HP pump I had to bench grind the crap out of the ARP drive to get the distibuter to sit flush with the block. Most of the time the Engine will have a growl when running and its usually the distributer pushing the drive shaft into the pump and pushing on the gears.

Phil

 

Tom,
The 351 has a 5/16" hex oil pump drive shaft, the 302 has a 1/4" hex. The 351 dist will fit over the 1/4" hex of the 302 oil pump drive shaft, but would not properly engage the shaft. If you've got several distributors of unknown vintage, be very careful about this.
When Ford went to EFI they went to a longer dist housing. I've never seen the reason why, they just did.

Ed

 

Well, it's a 1/4" drive, so it must be for a 302. Roadrebel, you said you ground on the pump shaft. Do you know if it'd be OK to grind some of the tip off the distributor? In my case, grinding on the pump shaft won't do anything about the clearance issue since it's the distributor shaft that's too long, not the pump shaft. I keep thinking that removing about 1/8 to 3/16" from the end would not affect the distributor and would allow it to seat properly.

 

I went to the local Ford dealer this morning and talked to 2 or 3 mechanics. They set me straight, I hope. They said the clip was not a circlip in a groove, but a clip that clamps onto the side of the pump shaft.

I should be able to insert the distributor into the hole and tap it into place, since the clip would just push down onto the oil pump drive shaft further. They said they've done that before. Just take off the rotary button and use a plastic hammer to tap it on down. I tried it and it did seat the distributor properly.

I assume I didn't mess anything up. We'll see. Thanks everyone for all the response.